Since we believe children cannot be safe without a network, we want to start listening and paying attention to who the family talks about from day 1, even before we formally start asking questions related to building a safety network.

When we ask questions, we want the family to come up with people who are involved in their lives. Sometimes we ask questions before mentioning that a safety network is critical. Some questions we might ask at this point include:

• Who is the first person you called and talked to about everything that has happened with CPS?
• Who are the people you feel most supported by, especially in stressful times?
• Who already knows about what happened?

Many of you have probably experienced parents saying they have no one or very few people who support them or who could be a part of a network. Sometimes we have to ask questions to help them think through the potential challenges if they only have 1 or 2 people. In these situations, finding a workable context to bring into your questions is valuable. We might ask:

• What have other people said about needing to involve a network (like a judge/CPS/etc.)?
• What might your kids be worried about if they don't have others to turn to?
• What do you think my supervisor would be worried about if we only have 1 person for the network? What do you think they would say would be helpful about involving more people?

Reflection:

Think about a current family you are working with where there is some dispute about what happened.

• Who are the people they have mentioned or haven’t mentioned?
• What questions could you ask in your next meeting to draw out people who could be involved or to stress the importance of involving others?

Enter your favorite question in the comment box below.